The present invention pertains generally to the field of thermoplastic constructions such as those in office furnishings and equipment, hospital and clinic furnishings, cafeteria furnishings, office partitions, etc.
Office furnishings and equipment, and the like, are often put into service in environments where there is exposure to impact and abrasion, such as through heavy foot traffic, hand contact, or exposure to things in motion, such as dollies, carts, tables and chairs, wheelchairs and hospital beds.
Office furnishings and equipment, and the like, are often provided with baseboards, railings and other pieces to resist or absorb impacts and scuffing, as well as to present and maintain an even and neat appearance.
It is also often the case that such furnishings use trim pieces, and the like, to provide a continuous covering or finish. However, such pieces must be produced so as to be securely incorporated into the balance of the furnishing piece, such as along the top or bottom of office partitions. Accordingly, it is desirable to be able to produce a furnishing piece or panel capable of secure incorporation into a furnishing piece.
To achieve these ends, it is often desirable to be able to take advantage of two or more plastic materials having different flexion and appearance qualities by combining them into an integral part. This is complicated by the fact that attempts to incorporate different materials require a secondary adhesion operation involving specialized adhesives or the injection molding of different polymers under conditions that may not allow the two materials to sufficiently adhere and/or may mar the surface or other aesthetic qualities of the part (such as through the application of heat and/or pressure). Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of integrating dissimilar polymers to one another.
It is also often desirable to be able to produce plastic composites capable of being used as sight and/or light barriers, as well as to produce products that present and maintain desirable aesthetic qualities.
Also, in many instances, these pieces must be made to allow the passage of various electrical and signal transmissive wires, fiber optic cables, and the like, which are often necessary to operate office equipment such as telephones, computers, copiers, projectors, lights, etc.
To this end, panels normally have been provided with holes or gaps to allow wires and cables to be passed through. However, the various potential applications of baseboard panels, their arrangement and their working environments make it difficult to predict where wire/cable access will be needed, and the size and number of wires or cables to be passed through at a given location.
One of the ways of constructing a gapped baseboard panel is to extrude a relatively rigid panel of material such as a rigid PVC. These panels are then cut to a desired length and a relatively flexible polymeric material, such as a flexible PVC material, is adhered to the relatively rigid material through use of an adhesive, such as a cyanoacrylate adhesive, in a secondary hand operation.
There are several problems attendant to the use of such adhesives in hand operations. One problem is that of ventilation. The adhered pieces must normally be carefully stacked to provide sufficient curing of ventilation. Also, in the case of cyanoacrylate adhesives, the vapor issuing from the curing adhesive can form a white deposit on the finished pieces, often rendering them unacceptable to the manufacturing customer. Naturally, any gaseous emissions from curing adhesive may pose a health hazard to the operator.
The use of liquid adhesives in hand operations are also inefficient. Liquid adhesive can be spilled, requiring cleanup, and hand operations, even when carefully done, can lead to gaps in the alignment between the rigid and flexible portions. It is therefore more difficult to manufacture such pieces within required tolerances.
Finally, the use of liquid in hand operations must rely upon the operator to dispense the appropriate amount of adhesive uniformly to be sure that a strong bond is achieved. This is often difficult to do efficiently in repetitive operations.
Accordingly, it is desirable to be able to produce a baseboard panel which can accommodate, alternatively, the throughput of a small or great number of wires (or wires of a small or great diameter) or remain unused, while maintaining an even appearance and without the use of separable parts.
It is also desirable to be able to produce such a furnishing panel in a continuous process without the need for secondary, post-extrusion operations (that is, a piece or panel that can be produced in a continuous in-line process).
It is further an object of the present invention to produce a finishing panel with a strong and uniform bond across the interface between the rigid and flexible portions, while eliminating the environmental hazards, inefficiencies and product objections discussed above.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an aperture covering for a piece or panel which is durable and resists the impact and flexion often occurring in high traffic environments, and the like.
In view of the present disclosure and/or through practice of the present invention, other advantages and the solutions to other problems may become apparent.